resolution on lobby registration

[Leslie Pool]

All, I am pleased to submit to you a report on the work accomplished over the last three months with stakeholders and the Ethics Review Commission relating to lobby registration. The resolution comes to Council Thursday for approval which will send a work plan to the City Manager to craft an ordinance based on the direction agreed upon with stakeholders and set forth in the resolution. The process was very inclusive and effective, and produced a good end result.

We have come up with a resolution that is supported by lobby reform proponents as well as the trade associations that previously had issues with some provisions. We have a good resolution that will result in a model lobby reporting law for Austin that promotes transparency, accountability, and fairness to registrants, a law we all can be proud of.

Citizens will be able to see easily on line who is lobbying for pay for which clients on what subject matters. The law has clearer definitions and standards, enhancing enforceability. On the other hand, and importantly, a number of provisions are designed to exclude minor lobbyists: 1) the compensation threshold for lobbying is $2000 and 26-hr a quarter of allocated compensation; 2) there is an exception from discretionary decisions for building and technical code issues on specific projects (e.g., plumbing, electrical, pipelaying, etc); and 3) there are reasonable, standard exceptions, such as from compensation for lobbying for applicants providing information to the city, citizens' service on on city boards, and for achieving compliance with city law. Since this is a resolution, and we await a draft back from the legal department on specific ordinance language, we may have to tweak some of the language on exceptions and other matters to ensure clarity and enforceability.

I want to thank everyone who worked on this, including especially the League of Women Voters, Fred Lewis, Jack Gullahorn, and the many stakeholders in the engineer associations, architectural and landscape architectural associations. We have an excellent product because of all your help.

I look forward to answering any questions at our work session tomorrow.

Regards,

Leslie